nep-spo New Economics Papers
on Sports and Economics
Issue of 2011‒11‒14
four papers chosen by
Joao Carlos Correia Leitao
University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon

  1. Integration of North and South American Players in Japan's Professional Baseball Leagues By Sumner LaCroix; Akihiko Kawaura
  2. Unemployment duration and sport participation : evidence from Germany. By Charlotte Cabane
  3. L'Etat peut-il rendre compétitif les clubs de football français. By Sébastien Dessus; Gaël Raballand
  4. Childhood sporting activities and adult labour-market outcomes. By Charlotte Cabane; Andrew Clark

  1. By: Sumner LaCroix (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii); Akihiko Kawaura (Graduate School of Policy and Management, Doshisha University)
    Abstract: Teams in Japan’s two professional baseball leagues began to add foreign players to their rosters in the early 1950s, with the average number of foreign players per team reaching 5.79 in 2004. One reason for their increased use of foreign players was that foreign hitters substantially outperformed Japanese hitters. We show that the pace of team integration with African-American, Latino, and Caucasian players varied substantially across teams, a pattern also observed in North American professional baseball leagues. Using team data for the 1958-2004 seasons, econometric analysis shows that good teams that experienced a poor season played foreign players more frequently in the next season’s games.
    Keywords: Baseball, Japan, integration, NPB, sports, team
    JEL: J71 L83 N35
    Date: 2011–10–30
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hai:wpaper:201114&r=spo
  2. By: Charlotte Cabane (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne)
    Abstract: In this study I use the German Socio-Economic Panel to evaluate the impact of leisure sport participation on the unemployment duration. The empirical literature on sport participation has focused on labour market outcomes and job quality while the impact of this activity on job search has not been studied. However, sports participation fosters socialization which, through the networking effect, accelerates the exit from unemployment. Furthermore, there may be a selection effect of individuals with higher non-cognitive skills (which may optimize their job search). These hypotheses are tested using a duration model, taking into account unobservable heterogeneity. Because the timing of participation in sports activities is relevant, various measure of sport participation are tested as well as other activities.
    Keywords: Unemployment duration, non-cognitive skills, sport.
    JEL: J24 J64 L83
    Date: 2011–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:11049&r=spo
  3. By: Sébastien Dessus (World Bank); Gaël Raballand (World Bank et Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne)
    Abstract: In France, football has become a political issue. Concerned by the decline of French clubs in European competitions, the Government is considering several reforms to give clubs more financial resources to compete with the best European clubs. This paper, empirically based on a panel database, identifies the main determinants of investment in clubs in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 and considers the impact of the main avenues of reforms. The econometric results suggest that if the proposed reforms (renovation of stadiums, lower taxation, redistribution of broadcasting rights for top clubs) could reduce the financial gap between the best French and European clubs, they would not close it.
    Keywords: Football, revenues potential, optimal budget, Ligue 1, Besson report.
    JEL: L83 H25
    Date: 2011–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:11048&r=spo
  4. By: Charlotte Cabane (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne); Andrew Clark (Paris School of Economics)
    Abstract: It is well known that non-cognitive skills are an important determinant of success in life. However, their returns are not simple to measure and, as a result, relatively few studies have dealt with this empirical question. We consider sports participation while at school as one way of improving or signalling the individual's non-cognitive skills endowment. We use four waves of Add Health data to study how sports participation by schoolchildren translates into labour-market success. We specifically test the hypotheses that participation in different types of sports at school leads to, ceteris paribus, very different types of jobs and labour-market insertion in general when adult. We take seriously the issue of endogeneity of sporting activities in order to tease out a causal relationship between childhood sporting activity and adult labour market success. As such, we contribute to the literature on the returns to non-cognitive skills.
    Keywords: Job quality, sport, non-cognitive skills.
    JEL: J24 J28 L83 I2
    Date: 2011–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:11052&r=spo

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